In the summer of 1917 several members of the Cabinet
formed themselves into a club, with other prominent
officials in Washington, and kept themselves fit throughout
the season by consistent morning exercise, four days
a week. So far so good, only we should have realized
more than a year ago the strain that was coming upon
our men and taken measures to meet it, as Germany
did. Dr. William C. Woodward, who is chairman
of the District Police Board in Washington, did not
overstate the matter when he said that the draft officers
were weary, that the strain had begun to threaten
their efficiency, and that they were thoroughly undermining
their bodies in the effort to accomplish their tremendous
task. Every community has seen the same thing
happen, and several of them can agree with Doctor
Woodward that this has come close to being a really
serious business calamity throughout the country.
All these men should have been prepared by thirty
or sixty days of physical training for this extra
strain.
Again, the Equitable Life Assurance Society, in its
September Bulletin, calls attention to the fact that,
out of approximately 1,300,000 men who volunteered
for the army and navy, only 448,859 were acceptable.
Furthermore, the Equitable notes that these physical
impairments not only will not correct themselves,
but that they will get worse, and that a large percentage
of our vast horde of physically sub-standard, low-priced
men will drift into sickness and meet premature death
because their power to resist disease is rapidly declining.
The Equitable calls, on this convincing evidence,
for a thorough and permanent system of health education
in our schools, saying: “With all of our
wealth and intelligence and scientific knowledge in
the field of health conservation, we are allowing
a large proportion of our children to pass out of
the schools into adult life physically below par.”
The Equitable concludes with the remark: “Some
day we will give all American school children thorough
physical training and health education. Why not
commence now?”
FROM A FAMOUS PHYSICIAN’S NOTE-BOOK
Dr. S. Weir Mitchell says:
All classes of men who use the brain
severely, and who have also—and this
is important—seasons of excessive anxiety
or grave responsibility, are subject to the same
form of disease; and this is why, I presume,
that I, as well as others who are accustomed to encounter
nervous disorders, have met with numerous instances
of nervous exhaustion among merchants and manufacturers.
My note-books seem to show that manufacturers
and certain classes of railway officials are
the most liable to suffer from neural exhaustion.
Next to these come merchants in general, brokers, etc.;
then, less frequently, clergymen; still less often,
lawyers; and, more rarely, doctors; while distressing
cases are apt to occur among the overschooled
young of both sexes.
